


Burning Roses and brimstone

by 65Rockdoves



Category: Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Figuring Things Out, Flower Language, Gen, Minecraft Diaries - Aphmau, Non-binary laurance, POV First Person, POV Second Person, Secret Santa, Self-Discovery, Self-Esteem Issues, The Nether (Minecraft), learning the truth, not really mentioned but he is
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:28:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21564547
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/65Rockdoves/pseuds/65Rockdoves
Summary: "But none of the really matters. Your fine. You have to be otherwise what was the fucking point of everything? What would be the point of saving you? So you are fine."MCD gay discord secret Santa gift to @inkspiots on tumblr
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	Burning Roses and brimstone

You don't remember a lot of things since The Nether. You remember the stories you told about the orphanage, but you don't remember their faces, or who you liked and disliked, or any of the adults there. You remember hating it. But you also miss it. You remember not being saved in time by Ungrth the Wyvern. You do however, know your name. _Laurance Zvhal_. You used to be the head guard of Meteli. The 2 Shadow Knights ‘guarded’ you in The Nether often whispered things to you, your name, who you were and facts they remembered.You were terrified for the day that they would tell you something that you forgot. You sobbed when they did. A teenage/young adult with dark brown eyes, which were sometimes red, with the name Zenix. A firey and spiteful mask which he used to hide his fear which clawed at him like a wolf. And an older lady, with grey hair and purple eyes, who went by the name Sasha. A cold and distant mask to hide guilt and fear that cloaked her constantly. You wonder what mask you were using and what it hid.He also used your name a lot. Fucking _Gene_. You may not know his full name but he _knows_ yours. And for whatever reason he loves using it, almost constantly. During torture was the most frequent. You want - no you need to kill him. Even if it kills you too. 

There are however a few people you fully remember from before The Nether. Cadenza, your lovely adopted sibling. You both often braided each others hair with flowers, talking about mundane things such as clothing, the village gossip and everything else. You cannot properly remember the topics but you can remember her, she matters more to you than she would think. You miss her. You don’t know where she is and it is probably too late to ask. The second person you remember the most was Lord Hayden, or as you know him, Jon. The previous Lord of Meteli, your adopted father. You remember his warmth, his laugh, his compassion. The most clearest thing you remember is his death. Fury boils your blood thinking about it. Most of your nightmares repeated the scenes like a fairy tale. Everything that happens feels like a fairy tale, unreal. The last person you remember clearly is Lady Aphmau, the current Lord of Phoenix drop. A lady with no background and no memories. Someone who didn’t even have a past. She was both a mystery and flustered easily, which meant it was easy to change the subject. _Not that you would ever tell her._

But none of the really matters. _Your fine_. You have to be otherwise what was the fucking point of everything? What would be the point of saving you? So you are fine. You glanced at the small pond within the forest you were patrolling to find yourself face-to-face with a stranger. Icy blue eyes stare in confusion, he has short brown hair and a familiar face. _Who is tha - no wait that's you_. Is this really what you look like? Your skin tone remained the same, which is nice, you can recognise your facial features and shape but… That really doesn’t look like you. _Does it?_ Your eyes are now a light blue from going blind. You were healed by the Irene statue, you remember both of these facts. You don’t remember your hair changing colours though. You suppose brown short hair and light blue eyes is a big enough change from ginger and emerald green eyes. You hope. You shakily lower the sword you apparently had aimed to fight a fucking pond. Everything was great and at least nobody was watching.

“Laurance are you alright?” Garroth loudly asks interrupting you mid monologue the dickhead.

“...Yes, I’m doing okay Garroth.” You replied rather stiffly. That was off, there is no way Garroth wouldn’t catch on that something is wrong. 

“Oh! Okay, you were just quiet for a moment there!” The bastard the absolute mad-man. 

Both you set off, continuing to patrol despite it’s uselessness. You are a child’s doll being manipulated into doing stupid tasks for their amusement. Are they at least having fun watching you struggle? You almost hope so. Garroth has been boosting and rambling about this time how he “won in a fight against a totally real werewolf that attempted to attack the village” it is a nice story, but you stopped believing in Garroth’s stories after that one time. He was crying about Zane, like Garroth was mourning a death. Why would anyone cry for Zane after all he has done to you all. There were a few people who acted like that, you see them in local pubs. His alive victims. Those who were taken by one of the Jury of Nine and then personally tortured by Zane himself. Was Garroth chained and beaten like you were? It would explain why he flinch whenever the priest’s name was spoken. Each one of them had mind magic swirling in their eyes, had Garroth once had that green in his now cerulean eyes, you may never know. 

Once the sun is half set you both head to guard’s rooms to sleep, the houses in the village always had flowers surrounding the entrances to “liven up the place”. Aphmau’s house for example had Moonworts, adonis, amaranths and white lilacs. Garroth’s head guard quarters had, Angrec, Dogsbane, and some yellow roses. You had Acalias, Dahlias and Lichens. On the day you met Aphmau in Metili you had planted some Hemlock, they bloomed while you were in the Nether, Ungrth sobbed when he told you but it didn’t seem important. A singular Rosebay laid silently at your doorstep. Like a fool you ignored it

When you awake it's dark, nowhere near sunrise and everything is cold. Your eyes had snapped open quicker than you were able to process. Someone was at your windowsill, crouched down aimed at you. Their almost glowing green eyes staring down. You couldn’t see anything else. Their eyes narrowed, staring at something behind you. _Wait they are not after at you…_ **_There is someone behind you._ **

The figure fired an arrow that glimmer in the moonlight. It hit and the target stumbled. You flipped yourself over, grabbing your sword in one hand the other lit up your bedside candle. Black hair, pale skin and teal eyes. Bile burned in your throat. 

Oh Irene it was him. **Gene**.

“Gene” You snarled, “what are you doing here?” Not your best line but it could be worse.

He chuckled deeply, the arrow in his swordhand’s shoulder seemingly not affecting him. 

“Oh, little Laurance and Zane the 2nd how, quaint.” He sneered drawling out both of your ‘names’ with distain. You glanced at Zane the 2nd to see their eyes narrowed in anger, both your grips on your weapons tighten.

“It’s really _pathetic_ how easy it was to get into here,” he spat as a smirk began to form on his face, “it’s as if you almost…” he trailed off smirk widening.

“As if you **_wanted_ ** me here!” 

An arrow whizzed past slicing Gene’s ear off.

“YOU LITTLE SHIT!” Gene screamed at not-Zane, distracted enough to not pay attention to your...

Your _sword_... 

Which is being held in _your_ hands

_Sliding through his neck with a sickening_ **_crunch_ ** _._

His shocked face tumbles behind his body which falls forward at your feet, knees first the rest second.

Holy fuck!

“...Holy fuck!” Definitely-not-Zane says from behind you.

Red coated your sword and hands, the walls, floor and even the ceiling. Oh wow. You really did that huh?

You fucking murdered him. Oh Irene…

Footsteps stopped inches from you it’s… You don’t know their name actually. Their skin was a touch lighter than Lady Aphmau’s, freckles are splattered across their face. Their eyes are a deep forest green filled with what you believe to be… concern?

A warm hand reached up and cupped your face, your eyes were drawn to the freckles dotted along their ungloved arm and hand, why would anyone need finger-less gloves that long only Irene could guess. Their thumb swiped under your right eye. 

_Oh, your crying, you haven’t actually done this in a while._

“Hey, it’s okay,” their other hand joined in on the soothing motion, “I’ve got you, you are safe now. He can’t hurt you anymore.”

Oh. _Oh._

You smile gratefully as your tears turn to sobs, their face lit up as if they were smiling softly. They slowly let go of your face, their ungloved hand clasped yours.

“We are going to leave now, away from… all this” 

You nod faster than you ever remember doing before.

They let you get changed and pick up a few personal items before leaving the building. Leaving the mess behind you both.

You nearly stumble on the circle of brimstone surrounding the little house you stay in. That’s when _ I found roses set on fire. _ Oh fuck, the front of the house was burning and the front door was wrecked.  _ How did you not notice that? _

“How did I not notice that?” 

The person beside you snorts into their free hand before shrugging. They sigh softly.

“Your name is Laurance right?” he side eyes you as you nod, words seem to be stuck in your throat. He nods back.

“My name is Vylad, the brother of Garroth,” he gestures to the house Garroth sleeps in, “and Zane Ro’meave.” 

_ Holy shit what the fuck!? _

Vylad nods, “Zane was always the outlier, the asshole.”

You snort, he grins maniacally, you both stare at the burning house while holding hands. 

Gene… can’t come back from this.

You…

don’t have to be scared or lost anymore.

_ I’m free.  _

He lightly squeezes my hand and gently leads us away. Away from that house I used to stay in, away from the roaring fire, away from phoenix drop and all the pain that came with it. 

While leaving, we were stopped by her, Cadenza. Tears started welling in my eyes. This time from happiness. Hugging her feels like coming home again, the smell of Rosemary, snowdrops and christmas rose. An odd combination but one I apparently had remembered. 

“Hey, it’s going to be okay you big softie.” She whispered, dear god I missed her.

We both parted at the same, elbowing each other in the ribs afterwards, an eyebrow and the side of his mouth both twitch upwards. You all continue on, Cadenza follows without much questioning. 

Sunrise began a few minutes ago, how long have we all been awake? The sunlight beams through the trees when you all hear two different familiar voices. One male one female.

“Okay are you  _ sure _ we have  _ everything _ ” The first one hissed to his companion.

“Yes I’m sure.” The second annoyed voice replied.

“Okay but like, what if we forgot the anti-fire stuff?” He demanded, “what will we do then?! HUH!”

“The “Anti-fire” stuff?” I can almost hear her eyebrow raise.

“Yeah! You know the stuff that puts out fires!”

“It’s right here.” There’s a pause, “I also have weapons, first aid kit and spare clothes for all of us.”

“...What if we haven’t made it in time?”

“We will, Laurance will be fine.”

Vylad and I glance at each other with raised eyebrows while Cadenza covers her mouth and shakes in an attempt to muffle herself. Vylad steps towards the now two visible shadow knights.

“Well, you were late, but your last statement is correct.”

Zenix and Sasha both startle before noticing me, Zenix fucking leaps at me crushin my ribs in the process. Sobs shake his body, looks like it’s my time to be giving comfort. I try soothing him by rubbing small circles into his back. Zenix hiccups, his hands grab onto your shirt. 

Looking up to Sasha her face breaks into wide for her grin, she lifts both you and Zenix joining in on the hug. While Zenix’s head is at your chest Sasha is head and shoulders taller than you. This makes Zenix look like the small child he is, like Sasha and you are his parents or something. Which is weird, I don’t want to be a father.

“So… where are we going to go?” Cadenza asks the obvious question.

“Well… There are a lot of prisoners in The Nether… We should probably free them.” Vylad answered softly, his head tilting to the side. Zenix quickly unburrows his face from my chest.

“Okay sure we could do that,” he drawls on the sure for extra affect, “but Gene would stop us.” I winced at the last part.

“Thanks for your point Zenix but it is invalid as Gene is fucking dead as shit.” Vylad smirks trying to hide his laughter.

“What the fuck, when did that happen Vylad?” 

Vylad cleared his throat, “many moons ago…” 

“Vylad you shit what happened.”

“He got beheaded.” Vylad giggled shrugging then burst into laughter.

“It was extremely gross.” I deadpanned to hysterical laughter of everyone else.

“So… Does that mean it’s over?” Sasha tightens her grip on Zenix and I while staring at Vylad.

He shakes his head and sighs. A chorus of grumbles and groans filled the air as the girls glare at Vylad. Zenix rasies his arm and spins his hand in what could mean ‘What the fuck?’

“Yeah I know but based on how Irene has been around for a while, and how each new threat is making a progression into becoming more dangerous… Yeah we should probably prepare for the worse case possible.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah…”

Cadenza being the smartest person in our group actually has some questions. Apparently shadow knights can’t think of questions as my mind blanked for a whole minute.

“What do you mean by ‘Irene has been around for a while’?” Her hands on her hips which means this is serious.

“Hyria gave me a staff a while ago, she told me ‘Place this in a place that needs the help of Irene.’ So I placed it outside of Phoenix drop back when it was slowly dying. Then after a beam of light… Aphmau appeared.”

This explanation only causes more chaos, Zenix was on a swearing rant, Sasha’s internal screaming was starting to become external, my sister was laying on her back in a star shape while Vylad seemed to be praying to the sky. After the chaos began to calm I asked the only question going through my head.

“Does Aphmau herself know about this?”

Everything went silent.

“I don’t know.”

“Fuck!”

Cadenza gets up from the ground and brushes herself off. “Well, either way, it would probably be for the best if we start.” Everyone nods, all the votes have been counted. Zenix attempts to compliment my sister but makes it backhanded by calling her ‘Zvahl 2.’ I gather myself up, give Sasha and Zenix a last hug and we all walk back towards the Nether.

It may of been the place most of us died but now, hand in hand with Vylad, reunited with my sister and the Shadow Knights… 

_ I’ve found Brimstone and burning roses, and **everything is for once actually fine.** _

**Author's Note:**

> Flower language translations from https://magic-spells-and-potions.com/files/flower-language-dictionary.htm#Find_The_Right_Flower_  
> Aphmau's flowers  
> Moonwart - forgetfulness  
> Adonis - painful recollections  
> Amaranth - immortality  
> White Lilacs - Youthful innocence  
> Garroth's Flowers  
> Angrec - Royalty  
> Dogsbane - Deceit  
> Yellow roses - Jealousy  
> Laurence's Flowers  
> Acaila - Temperance  
> Dahlia - Unstability  
> Lichens - Dejection and solitude  
> Hemlock - You will be my death.  
> Vylad's flowers  
> Rosebay - Beware danger  
> Cadenza's flowers  
> Rosemary - remembrance  
> Snowdrop - hope  
> Christmas rose - Relieve my anxiety
> 
> Brimstone and Burning roses - Learning the truth.


End file.
